Phoenix Fashion Stylist

Signature Style Makeover Week: Hair

My hair from meeting Andrew to present

I’ve courted copper, and flirted with blonde, but I consider myself a committed brunette. Yet my link to hue is far more fickled than my fierce loyalty to length. I can style everything from a pixie to a bob, but the expanse beyond the chin is uncharted territory. I’m a short hair girl, eternally, always.

Except for now. In response to the persuasions of a persistent husband, my hair now tickles my shoulders. I have to brush it out of the way when I put on a coat. And when I pull it into a pony, I actually have some sort of a tail.

Which is where it resides most of the time, in a high pony, commonly twisted into a tiny bun. My hair is fine, and although naturally curly, at this length I’m lucky to sustain a soft, flat wave.

In a mane induced milieu, I ran in for a professional consultation, with my stylist Leisel Decker, and received the following golden instructions following a trim and allover tint of brunette bordeaux.

And so I commence, how to add volume and curl to fine hair using a flat iron:

Step 1: Wash and condition the hair with a volume inducing product. Your shampoo and conditioner are critical in prepping your hair for styling.

Step 2: Apply a volumizing foam and power dry the hair with a blow dryer. Make sure you start drying without a brush, tousling sections in the opposite direction that they normally fall. You want your hair to be 80% dry before you actually start styling it. Round brushing sopping wet hair will increase your dry time, wear out your arms, and amplify breakage.

Step 3: Spritz the crown with a root boost. Then wield your round brush to finish drying the hair, focusing the direction of heat towards the ends of the hair.

Step 4: Apply a heat protectant spray and comb through the hair to minimize damage and breakage.

Step 5: Heat your flat iron to a low/medium temperate and begin building volume at the roots. Clasp the flat iron around the base of the hair shaft than pull up and away from the head.

Step 6: After boosting the crown, begin curling individual sections. The smaller the section of hair you take and the slower you move it through the hair, the tighter the curl will be. I wanted loose soft waves, so we worked through medium size sections, clamping the iron half way down the tendrils. Once clamped you twist the wrist, wind the hair around the iron, then slowly pull out and away from the head while rotating the iron.

Love all of the styles! My new favorite product is the generic Paul Mitchell’s super skinny serum b/c it gets rid of my frizzies and makes my hair feel silky. I also super love curlformers and would’ve chopped off another 8 inches if they didn’t actually curl my super straight hair without heat.